Israel responds to Iran infiltration attempts with Jordan security barrier

The Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that it has begun detailed engineering planning for the construction of a security barrier in part of the Jordanian border.

The planning works, amounting to tens of millions of shekels, will include initial marking of the planned obstacle segment, including data collection and computing, mapping of environmental disruptors, measurements, ground surveys, and hydrological surveys. The secretary general of the Defense Ministry, Major General (Res.) Eyal Zamir, has placed the planning task on the Security Fence and Border Administration, headed by Brigadier General Eran Ophir, and the Engineering and Construction Division, which will operate in coordination with the IDF.

The work on the Jordanian border is expected to continue for several months and is intended to promote the readiness of the security system to erect a barrier on the border, in accordance with the decisions of the political echelon on the subject.

"We are seeing a continuous and institutionalized Iranian effort to establish an eastern front against Israel – your role is to ensure and prevent Iran from succeeding," Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday during his visit to the Central Command. "We will have to deal radically with some places to prevent Judea and Samaria [West Bank] and the refugee camps from becoming a model of Gaza. If Iran is the head of the kraken, we have already completely pruned some of its tentacles, inflicted severe blows on other arms - and we will continue to do so."

In September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Jordan Valley and said that another obstacle will be established to thwart escape attempts from Jordan. "In our multi-frontal struggle, we know we need to secure and ensure our eastern border with Jordan," said Netanyahu. "It's a boundary of peace. We are cooperating with the Kingdom of Jordan to ensure it remains so."